As a precautionary health measure for our support specialists in light of COVID-19, we're operating with a limited team. Thanks for your patience, as it may take longer than usual to connect with us. If your business is affected by COVID-19, learn how to provide customers with updated info.

Guidance for Businesses affected by COVID-19

Updated: May 28, 2020

If your business is affected by COVID-19, update your Google My Business profile to provide the most accurate information to your customers. You can provide updates about your business to customers such as:

Your adjusted hours of operation, for instance if you close early.

Add “More hours” that describe other business operations such as delivery, takeout, and drive-through.

The updates will show on your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.

Marking your business “Temporarily closed” won't affect local search ranking and it will be treated similar to open businesses. Businesses offering pickup or delivery services should not mark the business “Temporarily closed,” otherwise those services won't show on Google.

Grow with Google provides resources, tips, and online training to help you manage your business, connect with customers, and work from anywhere during COVID-19. In this short video tutorial, learn how to keep customers informed by updating your profile, using posts to communicate, and adding remote managers to your accounts. Additionally, learn how to manage your business remotely during the COVID-19 crisis in this more comprehensive pre-recorded livestream. These videos are available in English only.

To make sure your customers have the latest information:

For businesses with changed hours: If your business hours have changed, update the times when you’ll be open or closed. Your operating hours show when a customer visits your Business Profile, and they’ll know exactly when they can visit your location. Learn how to change your hours.

For businesses with special hours: If your business is open but has adjusted operating hours for specific days, set special hours (rather than mark your business “Temporarily closed”). Learn how to set special hours.

For businesses with More hours: If your business provides specific services with differing times (e.g. senior hours, delivery, takeout) you can set More hours instead of special hours. Learn how to set More hours.

Food, retail, and service businesses have attributes at the top of their Business Profiles to inform customers about service availability. These include Dine-in, Takeout, and Delivery. This new info will prominently appear on your Business Profile when customers search for your business on Google Maps and Google Search. Supported attributes have a “✓” and non-supported attributes display an “X."

Tip: If a business is marked “Temporarily closed,” these attributes — highlighted by “✓” or a “X" on the knowledge panel — won’t surface on Google Search and Maps. Businesses that offer takeout or delivery options shouldn’t mark the business “Temporarily closed.”

At this time, businesses may find a disclaimer on their profile to let customers know that their business info may not be up-to-date.

Verified businesses can remove this disclaimer when they update recent special hours. The disclaimer won't appear if a business hasn't set hours of operation or if you mark your business "Temporarily closed." If you mark your business “Temporarily closed,” attributes such as takeout or delivery won’t display on your profile.

Healthcare providers like doctors, therapists, and other medical practitioners can use Google My Business to claim and manage their practice’s info. You can add details about services, such as telemedicine, and personalize your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.

A COVID-19 info link is also available for Healthcare providers to link out to their facility’s COVID-19 information page as a way to provide details on the facility’s operations and practices during the pandemic. This may include COVID-19 testing information, restricted visitor hours, a COVID-19 hotline, and/or whether visits and appointments are still occurring in person.

Important: The COVID-19 info link is available in the US and displays on mobile only.

If your hotel is affected by the COVID-19 situation, update your Business Profile on Google to provide the most accurate information to your customers.

You can surface specific amenities and information on your Business profile such as free or discounted accommodation for COVID-19 responders. To surface this information, select the attribute in your Business Profile.

Tip: If a business is marked “Temporarily closed,” attributes for both dining and retail establishments won’t surface on Google Search and Maps. If your business still operates through takeout or delivery, you should not mark it as "Temporarily closed."

We rely on authorities to tell us when there are closures in their region. We use data from many types of authoritative data sources, which include national, state/provincial and local governments, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and businesses.

Any categories of places that authoritative sources say are temporarily closed. For example, schools are a common example of a type of place that may be listed as "Temporarily Closed." Other possible types of places an authoritative data source can mark as "Temporarily Closed" may include museums, gyms, and stores.

Temporary closures can be removed in a variety of ways. GMB account holders can reopen their business listings via GMB, with the change effective immediately. Additionally, anyone can report a place as reopened via the "Suggest an edit" flow, with reports being monitored and reviewed before a reopen is applied. Additionally, Google is using authoritative information from governments to remove listing temporary closures en masse where state authorities have mandated reopenings. Learn more about how you can reopen your business.